If you’ve been following Smart Marketer for any amount of time, you know we don’t stay still for long. But the first half of 2026 has been a different kind of busy. The kind where you look up in May and realize you somehow packed two-plus years of work into a few months.
In a recent episode of the Smart Marketer Podcast, Molly Pittman and John Grimshaw pulled back the curtain on everything the team has been working on: new traffic channels, new software, a new brand, and a pretty honest conversation about what happens when you say yes to too many things at once. This post covers all of it.
Key Takeaways
- Smart Marketer launched a free Axon (AppLovin) Masterclass, added TikTok Shop as a client service, and is building out Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) as a core agency offering.
- Thumbstop, Smart Marketer’s AI-powered ad creative tool, is live and helping media buyers produce direct response assets faster, with real results on Meta.
- The team is launching a new ecommerce brand in the pet space, built from scratch, with plans to document the whole journey publicly.
- Info products are not dead. A Smart Paid Traffic Live launch earlier in 2026 confirmed there’s still strong demand for education, especially when it’s tied to a real, timely pain point.
- For the second half of 2026, the focus is depth over breadth: doubling down on core competencies instead of chasing new projects.
What New Traffic Channels Is Smart Marketer Running for Clients?
The short answer: more than ever before. Axon, TikTok Shop, Meta, and Google are all live (along with email, of course), and the team has added AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) as an organic visibility play targeting AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Gemini.
Here’s a breakdown of where Smart Marketer’s clients are running traffic right now and what each channel is best suited for:
| Channel | Where It Runs | Best For | Status at Smart Marketer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meta Ads | Facebook, Instagram | Direct response, retargeting, broad reach | Established core channel |
| Axon (AppLovin) | Mobile gaming apps (Candy Crush, Solitaire, etc.) | Reaching new audiences in a relaxed, exploratory mindset | New: Launched Axon Masterclass in 2026, agency services since late 2025 |
| TikTok Shop | TikTok feed + creator content | Discovery-based buying, Gen Z and millennial shoppers | New: Active since January 2026 |
| Search, Display, YouTube | Intent-based traffic, bottom of funnel | Ongoing | |
| AEO (Answer Engines) | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Gemini | Brand authority, organic visibility in AI-generated answers | Actively building: partnered with Kasim Aslam, in Beta Testing |
This level of channel diversification is intentional. As Meta’s costs have climbed, having budget spread across multiple platforms gives brands access to audiences they’d never reach otherwise. Some people barely open Facebook anymore. But they’re on TikTok for an hour a day, or playing Solitaire on their phone every night.
What Is the Axon Masterclass and Why Did Smart Marketer Build It?
Axon, the demand-side platform built by AppLovin, started making serious noise in D2C circles in the second half of 2025. Smart Marketer’s clients were among the early testers, and the results were strong enough that the team partnered with Axon directly to produce a full training course.
The course is free. You can access it HERE
What makes Axon different from Meta or Google is where the ads actually show up: inside mobile games. Think Candy Crush, Solitaire, the ones with little guys knocking down walls. These aren’t interruptive ads squeezed into a scroll, they’re part of a more immersive, relaxed experience. That context matters, because users are in a completely different headspace than when they’re doom-scrolling Instagram.
The course took a few months to produce from planning through final edits, and it was the single biggest project the Smart Marketer info team tackled this year. But it’s done, and the team is genuinely excited about what’s out there for brands willing to test the channel.
How Is TikTok Shop Actually Working for E-Commerce Brands?
The honest take: TikTok Shop is a real opportunity, but it doesn’t work like traditional paid traffic. If you’re expecting to fire up a campaign and see returns in 48 hours the way you might on Meta, you’ll be disappointed. This is a slower burn.
TikTok Shop runs on creator-driven affiliate marketing. You’re recruiting creators to feature your product in their content, building relationships, managing those partnerships, and letting organic discovery do most of the heavy lifting. It’s closer to old-school affiliate management than anything else.
Smart Marketer’s most interesting TikTok Shop win so far has been in cleaning products, a category most people would never associate with D2C direct response. That’s kind of the point. TikTok surfaces products to people based on interest and behavior, not just intent. Buyers who would never search for your product might stumble across a creator using it and convert on the spot.
Dilyana has been running this alongside paid ads work, and the team covered the full playbook in a recent podcast episode if you want to go deeper.
What Is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and Why Should Marketers Pay Attention?
AEO is about showing up in AI-generated answers, the kind you get from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, or Gemini when you ask a question. Google’s recent announcement that they’re moving away from traditional blue-link results toward an AI-first experience made this very real, very fast.
The concept isn’t completely foreign if you’ve ever thought about SEO or content strategy. You still need to create genuinely useful content. The difference is that AI systems, Large Language Models (LLMs), and knowledge graph tools included, are now the ones deciding which brands and experts get cited when someone asks a question. If your brand isn’t being recognized as an authority in your space, you won’t show up.
Smart Marketer is building out AEO as a core agency service in partnership with Kasim Aslam. They covered the details and early client case studies in the blog post just before this one. The structural setup that Smart Marketer has with three distinct entities, (Smart Marketer the brand, Ezra Firestone the founder, and Molly Pittman the CEO) turns out to be a massive advantage. Multiple entities with separate visibility and authority means more surface area to show up in AI answers.
If you want to still be in business in three years, this is worth understanding now.
What Is Thumbstop and How Does It Help with Ad Creative?
Thumbstop is Smart Marketer’s AI-powered ad creative tool, and it’s live. You can check it out at usethumbstop.ai. The SMART50 code gets you 50% off.
The core idea: upload your website or product, and the tool analyzes it, pulls in Smart Marketer’s direct response IP, and generates ad assets in a matter of minutes. Not awareness ads, not brand campaigns. Ads built to put money in your pocket.
What’s made it worth talking about is it’s marketing knowledge. Yes, it is fast, but it’s that the output actually looking different from what other creative tools produce that makes the difference. The direct response principles are baked into the prompting system, so you’re not getting generic lifestyle imagery. You’re getting hooks and creative built around what actually converts.
Media buyers have been testing Thumbstop assets on Meta against their controls, and there are case studies on the site from both new and experienced buyers. Beyond paid ads, the team has found people using it for social media graphics and website banners too, which wasn’t part of the original plan but makes sense.
This is Smart Marketer’s first software product outside of Zipify, and it’s been a long time coming, a tool that lets the IP do the work instead of requiring a person to execute every step.
What Is the New Brand Smart Marketer Is Launching?
The team is launching an ecommerce brand in the pet space, built from scratch in partnership with an existing client. The brand was in development as of this recording and will be launching this month.
The real story here isn’t the brand, it’s what building from zero has taught the team. Smart Marketer works with a lot of brands in the $1M to $5M range and helps take them to eight figures. But starting from nothing is a completely different experience. Trademark registration, platform integrations, product sourcing decisions, all the things that run quietly in the background of an established business suddenly need to be figured out.
The plan is to document the full journey publicly. From launch through growth, with the real numbers and the real setbacks. That’s the content the team is most excited about producing.
This brand is also the first step in a longer portfolio play. The thinking is that Smart Marketer is moving from teaching people how to run their businesses, to running businesses directly. Building brands, growing them, and creating opportunities for team leaders to step into expanded roles as those businesses scale.
Is the Info Business Still Worth Investing In?
Yes, with one important caveat. People are not going to sit through a generic course just to learn something they could Google or ask AI. But if you have a real, timely painpoint and you can provide structured learning plus access to experts, people will absolutely buy.
Smart Paid Traffic Live launched earlier in 2026, and the results surprised even the team. The demand was there. The key was that Meta’s Andromeda update created a specific, urgent problem that advertisers needed help with. The course addressed that problem directly, and the live Q&A component gave buyers something they can’t get from a video or a chatbot.
The info space is changing, not disappearing. Education still works when it’s relevant and when it includes real human interaction.
What Is Smart Marketer’s Focus for the Rest of 2026?
Fewer new things. More depth on what’s already running.
After an absolutely packed first half of the year: new courses, new software, new traffic channels, a new brand, and a new agentic systems partnership, the leadership team took stock and acknowledged they were genuinely tired. John and Pep both had babies under six months old. Something had to give.
The second half of 2026 is about pouring more into what’s already working. The Axon course is out. Thumbstop is live. TikTok Shop has momentum. AEO is hitting stride. The new brand is launching. That’s plenty. No new projects.
This is actually a pretty common business cycle. You innovate, you add, you test. Then you pull back, consolidate, and scale what worked. The businesses that skip the consolidation phase tend to collapse under the weight of too many half-finished things. Smart Marketer is being intentional about not doing that.
Want to go deeper on any of these topics?
The Smart Marketer Podcast has full episodes with Kasim Aslam on AEO, Dilyana on TikTok Shop, and Molly and John on Axon, and what’s coming this summer. Head to smartmarketer.com/podcast to find them all.
And if you want to try Thumbstop, go to usethumbstop.ai and use code SMART50 for 50% off.
